The European Commission confirmed that at today’s meeting of the Committee of Permanent Representatives of the European Union (COREPER), it gave a positive oral assessment of the progress of the European integration reforms of Ukraine and Moldova.
Press secretary of the European Commission, Ana Pisonero, said Kyiv had fulfilled the necessary criteria in the field of anti-corruption, control over political lobbying, transparency of officials, and ensuring the rights of national minorities, which were recommended by the European Commission’s 2023 enlargement report.
“We consider that both countries have taken all steps. Now the decision is up to the member states — they are tasked with adopting the accession framework, and it is up to the Presidency of the Council to convene an intergovernmental conference to formally start negotiations,” Pisonero said.
The European Council supported the opening of accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova last December. In March of this year, the European Commission (EC) prepared framework drafts for the accession negotiations of Ukraine and Moldova.
After internal discussions of the texts proposed by the European Commission, the Council must approve the negotiating framework. After that, the country holding the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union will present an agreed common position at the first intergovernmental conference with each country, thus officially starting the accession negotiations.
It is known that the European Union and Ukraine hope to officially start negotiations by the end of June, since the presidency of the Council of the European Union will be transferred to Hungary from July.
Earlier, it was reported that at the meeting of the EU ambassadors on May 29, Hungary had blocked the approval of the project of negotiations on the accession of Ukraine to the European Union due to the rights of national minorities.
